Rough Waters • Peter Parker

NINE

Even in the dim light, we could see his skin slowly making its way to green. "Doctor? Bruce, you gotta fight it," Tal began softly, trying to ease him. "This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay. Listen to me."

She was putting herself in front of me and shooing away the Maintenance guys that had come to help. They would only agitate Banner more and that was the last thing we needed.

"We're gonna be okay, right?" she continued. I was cowering behind her now, it wasn't my proudest moment.  "I swear on my life," she said, "I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never ever-"

"Your life?" he growled, his voice not at all matching the soft-spoken Bruce Banner I had met earlier. This Bruce Banner was cynical and destructive. This Bruce Banner probably wanted to kill us. This Bruce Banner was closer to the Hulk than Bruce Banner himself.

And then he changed. We saw him transform right before our eyes, his skin turning to its iconic green and his shirt ripping at where his muscles grew bigger. The Hulk was absolutely terrifying.

Tal grabbed my hand and then we ran as fast as our legs would let us. The Hulk followed, one of his steps encompassing 5 of ours. He roared, tearing down the stairs and leaving nothing but destruction in his path. 

We ran and ran and ran until we were sure we had lost him when we heard him come closer. This was going to be a losing battle if we didn't get help from someone soon. She pulled her hand apart from mine but I kept running, looking back only once to see Tal swinging in and out through tiny cracks that the Hulk couldn't even fit his hand through. His big green face looked very very confused and I smiled at our (her) tiny victory. This was the first time I had seen her in action and it was the first time I had noticed how badass Natasha Romanoff truly was. 

She ran up to me, her face showing no sign of any emotion as she took my hand again and dove under the pipes, taking me with her. 

We ended up in the engine room, which seemed to have once been busy with workers but was now abandoned. Jackets and sweatshirts clung on hooks in the wall while packed lunches and water bottles were strewn throughout the benches that lined the dull metal walls.

We could hear the thumping footsteps of the Hulk charging towards up. Tal met my eyes, slowly coordinating her steps to inch closer to the exit. She was light on her feet, her padded footsteps barely audible, but I didn't have that sort of grace.

My stubby little feet hit the floor with about as much grace as a newborn chicken and slipped as soon as they made contact with the polished floor. Tal reached out her hand to tug me up so we could keep running but our efforts were worthless by then. The Hulk had gotten to us.

He stepped forward, slowly backing the two of us into the wall of the engine room. I was useless. Worse, I was a liability and I hated it. I didn't want to be the reason behind the death of Natasha Romanoff. 

I was still on the floor from my earlier fall, surrounded by the knick-knacks left behind by the engine operators.  I wanted to help. I wanted to do something — anything — to get us out.

Most of the stray items were out of reach but the closest one happened to be a hard plastic bottle of water which I figured I could just chuck at the Hulk and distract him. 

In hindsight, it stupid idea because a) the guy was fucking bulletproof, there was no reason he would even feel a plastic bottle thrown by an 11-year-old and b) even if he did feel it, he would be Very Angry and that probably wouldn't be good news for either me or Tal. 

But, nonetheless, I persisted, straining to reach the bottle of water. I was terrified and tired and the cut on my cheek had started bleeding again. I was using every bit of my energy to inch towards the bottle, straining my tiny little fingers to grab the dull gray plastic.